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The Strobist Corner: Protect Your Strobe With A Frisbee
Ever had your light stand taken down along with your precious 5000$ Profoto? Not a fun experience.
Next runner up on the not-so-fun light stands falls is a knocked-down speedlite. While the cost of speedlites is considerably less than the cost of a Profoto, if this is all you have it can still be pretty annoying. Especially if you're on the beach where it's sandy.
Keep reading for a cheap and ingenious solution.
OK, Profoto issue is not going to be solved here. Unless you have a huge mattress to spear. Speedlites are a different story. The Frisbee protector by Greg Easton will help your strobe avoid any hard impact upon failure.
I'm thinking that this can even improve with installing other toys that are not Frisbees. Half a ball or a plunger will do an even better job with absorbing the impact.
Another bonus on this on is that it will block any sand from hitting the strobe in a sandy environment.
[Free-Style image by Iguana Jo]
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Comments
Brilliant!
Man, what a great idea!!!! You could even use a glow in the dark frisbee so if you're shooting at night you always know exactly where the strobe is going to come from.
Oh great!
Now I've gotta go find some glow-in-the-dark frisbees! That's awesome.
I do a lot of beach portrait
I do a lot of beach portrait photography, and lightstands always get blown over. I find the best way to protect your light stand is with a large shoot through umbrella. That way the umbrella crumples when it hits the ground, absorbing the shock of the fall and saving the strobe.
At least that what I tell myself every time I have to buy a new frickin' umbrella because the last one looks like a white pretzel.
Do as my friend does... he
Do as my friend does... he has in his vehicle with the photography equipment.... some sand bags... keeps the items from being blown over (weights them down)?? just a thought.. .hope it helps
Someone is drunk blogging
Someone is drunk blogging again!
re: not drunk
Just forgot to take them red pills
re: frisbee
@ Zeke - Thanks Zeke, the glow in the dark Frisbee is such a terrific Idea.
@Matt - I feel your pain, matt. This is why I was thinking on another option. also if you tent to use bare/snooted flashes quite a lot the umbrella will not be a saver there.
or just use a ....
I just use sandbags(ankle weights).and I haven't had a problem with that.
I use them
religiously. But I also live right on the coast and a rogue gust of wind can come out of nowhere and grab an umbrella. Sure, the umbrella might take the brunt of the impact but more times than not, the speedlight hits pavement too.
thanks
very useful idea - I have two small children that love to climb on anything they can, including my light stands. this will be very helpful to keep my strobe from crashing into the floor or concrete. I may try to tape some foam around the frisbee to further absorb impact. thanks!
I feel really stupid here-
I feel really stupid here- How does the frisbee go on the lightstand?
Thanks
I just used a lighter, got
I just used a lighter, got them softened up, and pushed a pencil through to give me a hole the right size. I suppose you could drill a hole, too.
Thanks Greg!
Thanks Greg!
Beach shooting
At the beach, I take an old pillow case and fill it with sand, then attach a bungie cord. That lets the stand move a bit, but goes right back into position. Afterward, I dump the sand and put the pillow case into a zip-lock bag. When it gets too dirty, I dump it.
Trashbags work well for this are are very easy to carry.
Also, you can use foam core instead of a fresbee. It won't be as durable, however.
Through da Roof
LOL. Now a frisbee will cost you $75 bucks. Glow in-the-dark, $89.99. Lol, great idea thanks for sharing. However, I use angle iron tent stakes and bunggies (Aluminum).
Good...AND
...a a pizza box also gets the job done of protecting a free fall.
great idea
The tought would have never entered my mind... I wanted to buy a glow in the dark frisbee but I can't find one anywhere. I'l try ordering one online. Thanks!
Brilliant!
And this also leaves you something to do while waiting for the fog to clear!
simple yet effective!
What a great idea! Thanks for the tip!
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